About Me

I started writing my top 10 lists when I was pregnant with my daughter. I am part of i-am-pregnant.com website and I published my lists there. They got a lot of responses from other moms and I was sad to realize that my feelings and notes to my daughter were just disappearing in the sea of message boards...so I started a blog. I am writing from my heart and as honest as I can. Some of the things I write, I wish someone told me when I was pregnant. I hope it gives new moms some kind of support, a feeling of being understood and an occasional smile. Thank you for reading.

Monday, October 26, 2009

TOP 10 THINGS I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT WHILE WRITING MY IMAGINARY WILL

I have been sick for the last week. The kind of sick when you start making up your will in your head and then realize that there is nothing in your will, but outstanding bills. I cried, I bargained with God, I burnt in fever. I went toa very dark place. Your life looks very different when you are not feeling well. While I was contemplating what'sthe wording on my tombstone should be :), I watched "Oprah" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7s89ptz0dA or I drifted in andout of consciousness through the show. It was about Copenhagen, Denmark and why it is where "the happiest people in the world" live. It made me think about all the changes that the people ofthis great country would appreciate, changes that make people happy in a small country likeDenmark. Here are some of them...without any political agenda.

1. Universal Health CarePlease don't call me a "socialist", because believe me as a Russian citizen I KNOW what that means. All I am asking for is that on top of the beautiful choices this country provides, there should be a simple guarantee that no one will need to choose between getting their family in debt or DYING. It's a simple human right.

3. 1 year of maternity leave.It's truly insane to have a needto choose whether you should go back to work after 12 weeks or sacrifice your hard won career to stay home.

4. Cheap or free daycare.Do I pay for daycare, which is almost the cost of my paycheck or do I stay home and clip coupons, while my husband hassmall heart attacks from all the pressure of bringing home the money.

5. Assigned "on call" nurse for the first 3 months of ababy's life.Not all of us are lucky to have our parents come and help us in those trying times. You are exhausted, sleep deprived and still in shock from labor. It would be nice to be able to call someone for help if only for an hour.

6. 40 hour work week.I am lucky to have that, but I see a lot of people who get offered acertain salary and then added "but there is a lot of overtime". We live in atime when you feel guilty leaving the office to be with your family ON TIME.

7. OPTION of free higher education.It's not a good start of your professional young life when you get out of college already with a huge debt or worse, join the army risking your life so you have a chance at a brighter future for free.

8. Required internship programs.If you ARE paying thousands to get that degree, there should be a way to find out exactly what that job in theory looks like in reality.

9. Travel abroad.80% of Americans do not have a passport. Enough said.

10. Consume less, enjoy life more.

I would like to also mention that people in Denmark pay 50% of their salary in taxes but after getting everything above plus 4 years of unemployment at 90% of your salary....ask me if I care.

2 comments:

Here in Canada I'm glad to say that we have #1 to #4 and #8 depending on school. I think #10 is mostly in our head. I do have my passport but have no clue what is the % of Canadian that have it. #5 would be great and the longer the better! We have free service nurse by phone and groups of moms and professional you can meet per exemple to know how to nurse ect..but no one come to your house unless you have the $$$ like my cousin who is a doctor. HappyMere.We just had recently a survey in Quebec City and it said that 87% of the people consider themselves happy...I wonder why we are the city in Canada thouhg that has the most suicide.